ISLAMABAD – Pakistan gets a small economic lifeline from the brotherlycentral Asian state.
Pakistan has been extended an offer to obtain an open credit line of $100million for the procurement of petroleum products by Azerbaijan without anysovereign guarantees.
A senior government official said at the present juncture the offerextended by Azerbaijan would be of some value to Pakistan, reports *ExpressTribune.*
Massive pressure has been ratcheting up on the balance of payments andPakistan will commence talks over a bailout package with the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF).
Currently, the major oil suppliers to Pakistan are Saudi Arabia, UnitedArab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait and any deal it clinches with Azerbaijanwill reduce its excessive dependence on them.
Pakistan has nominated Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Azerbaijan hasdesignated state-owned Socar for signing a commercial deal.
But the proposal has been hindered by bureaucratic obstacles and thePetroleum Division is required to obtain approval of the cabinet for waiverof Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in order to ensurea government-to-government (G2G) agreement with Azerbaijan.